How I survived, I Annie Cresta
by BrilliantlyInnocent
Summary: You all read Katniss's story of survival, but here's mine. How you all think I went crazy, but I'm here to tell you my story of how I survived. I, Annie Cresta. Rated T for safety.


**OK hey this is my first annie fan fiction. Please comment, and give me constructive critism. I appreciate it. Sorry if I don't post again soon, been crazy busy with school. So hopefully this is long enough for you. :) **

* * *

I wake up to the sound of my mom yelling at my little brother, for what I decided I do not want to know. I roll out of my bed, my feet searching for the cold hard wooden floor. I sigh annoyed and nervous for what today might bring. Today is the reaping day, the day where we decide who will fight to the death. District 4 has only had 2 winners that remain alive. Otto Raney died last summer of old age, the man managed to make it to 75 without craziness killing him. Mags and Finnick Odair are the only alive survivors of district four, something we pride ourselves on. I for one am not a big fan of the games, but I feel as if I may enjoy it if district four ever made it into the careers, but even then I am still unsure. I slowly make my way downstairs watching carefully as to avoid my mother. I slip into my parent's room and grab the dress I was to wear for the reaping. The same pale yellow dress I wear every reaping year. I pick up the dress as my mind rushes with memories from last year.

My best friend's older brother, John was reaped, and forced into the foggy trap that was the arena. Alone he managed to live until there were just half of them left. John was fishing in a small oasis, little did he know about the careers sneaking up behind him ready to spill some blood. The girl, quick and strong grabbed her friends sword and sent it sailing through is head. He barely had time to recognize what was happening as his body fell silently into the oasis. The sound of the canon echoed in the arena. John's head spilling blood, barely attached to his body. The careers left in the same deathly silence that they had came in. Their faces plastered with vicious grins, ready to kill another innocent child. I slip into the bathtub that my mother had made for me. The water was cool not warm, not freezing, just like the ocean. I let my head sink back into the water, as my worries were washed away.

"Annie, hurry up. We have to go soon!" I hear my mother's urgent voice call from behind the dark wooden door. I lather my body in the soap my mom uses on special occasions. The smell of lavender filled the room. I rinse myself, and then dry my skin. I look into the mirror. My brown hair wet matted down onto my head. It was never as beautiful as my mothers, although she always cared about her looks. Painting her face in all the makeup, all of the in things in the capital. She was always wearing the new in clothes, and tattoos. She never let me though, said I was too young to ruin my beautiful face. I stare at my face. My chin pointed, my ears too big, my eyes, that was the only piece that I loved about myself. The only thing I would ever come to love about myself. I I brush my hair the knots worse than the knots that we use for fishing. Out of the corner of my eye I spot a small box. It was a wooden box, with carved figures of fish, and the sea, so interracially done. Every scale had its own pattern on the fish. Each wave had its own design. I carefully open it, inside was my mom's makeup. Small plastic boxes, with different color powder for various parts of your face. Gingerly, I take out the rosy pink powder box, opening it as if it were glass.

"Annie!" I whip around the box still in hand to face my mother. Her face was widened in disbelief of my misbehavior.

"Sorry" I say. I quickly look down at my hand and set it down with an apologetic smile.

"You're beautiful just as you are. Now let's go, your father will meet us there with your brother." She says kissing my forehead lightly. I nod to her, and follow her out of the house. We walked to the justice building in silence. A tradition done every year. I grabbed my mom's hand out of habit, but also because I was so scared. We filed in with everyone else joining them on the nervous walk to the reaping. I see my father and I run to hug him. Once a year he willingly hugs me. He never hugs my brother, but some nights you can hear him showing his affection for my mother. He smiles at me. The one smile I know like the back of my hand, so warm so comforting. I pull away from him as he turns and shakes hands with my brother. This was the last year my brother would ever have his name in the reaping. I can see how happy my parents are for this. For me I have 3 more years of this. I hug my mother long and hard until I see the streets emptying. I nod goodbye and take my place with the other 15 year olds. Up comes the mayor, drawing out on why we are here today. Soon he is replaced by a perky young women.

"May the odds be ever in your favor" she chirps, her voice ringing over the crowd. She smiles cheesily her sky blue hair hanging wildly around her shoulders. She wobbles over to a glass bowl and dips her hand into it. On the other side of the stage, handsome Finnick Odair holds old Mags hand in in momentarily prayers.

"Annie Cresta," she says. I wait there waiting to see the unlucky girl walk to her death. Suddenly I feel a push from behind me. I turn, a girl in my class with a solemn face nods to my left. I look over, they moved out of my way leaving an open path. "Annie, come up dear. Show your face." The woman with blue hair says. Me. I am reaped. I am going to fight to my death. I slowly walk up biting back the tears that sting my eyes. I glance at the image of me on the large screen above me. My brown hair flowing behind me, my face pained and surprised. I make my way to the blue woman's side. She smiles at me encouragingly; I muster up a nod for that is all I can manage. "As for the boys," She says as she goes to the bowl beside the girls. She dips her hand in there, her long manicured fingers spidery snatch up an unlucky piece of paper.

"River Pollen," she coos. I scan the crowd for the face of which the name belongs to. I recognize the name, but from where I couldn't place. A tall boy appears from the 18 year old section. The same section as my brother, he must have been in classes with him. His hair was gelled back, and he wore a suit top, and ironed dress pants. His hair mousey brown was blowing slightly in the wind. He makes his way beside me escorted by the peace keepers.

"Ladies and Gentlemen give a warm round of applause to this year's 70th annual Hunger games tributes." The blue haired lady says into the crowd. District four claps in false enthusiasm, their faces pained and worried, like they are every year. Soon we are led in slience to two small rooms. River in one, myself in the other. The room is nice, a couch to sit in, a wooden table nicely made. Windows that looked over the glimmering ocean. White lace dreams laid atop the window. The trim of the window is painted white, and the walls itself is a light blue.

"Annie!" I turn, my family bursts through the door and embrace me. two hugs from my father in one day, probably the last hug I will ever get from them.

"I love you, I love you, I love you." I croak, my voice suddenly gone.

"You are my daughter you will fight and stay strong." My father says, I smile back as they are forced out of the room. I am only given a moment to compose myself until my best friend Aster bursts through the door, the one whose brother died the past year. I fall into her arms, and start crying, letting all my emotions come out.

"You'll win, you're sneaky, lovable. People will sponsor you." She whispers in my ear. I nod the only thing I have been capable of doing since I woke up this is the last time I'll ever see her, we all know that deep down. Even River is stronger than myself. "I'll make sure your family does alright. Espiceially your brother in school. I know you can do it, you have the advantage of-" she is forced out of the room, leaving me alone. I sigh as I wipe my tears from my face, and get myself ready for Panems view. I wait for the Peace Keepers to come and fetch me. The next few hours are a complete blur. One second I was in the Justice building, the next in the car to the train station, boarding the train and waiting quietly. I stare at the floor of the train car, my mind unable to process what was happening. Suddenly Finnick followed by gold old Mags saunters into the train car. They take a seat across from River and I. I can feel Finnick watching me, waiting for an expression to cross my face.

"We are going to die…" River says after a few moments. I shoot him a glare of complete hatred.

"Way to think positive." I growl.

"You guys can do it, in the next week Mags and I can give you enough information on how to survive. I am already a few steps ahead of you," He pulls out two decks of cards. " Note cards, tells you the difference between edible plants and not edible plants." He says happily. Mags taps him and hands him a pile of papers that she had stuffed in her bag. "Day. Plan. Tell." She says. Finnick grins and kisses Mags cheeks as he grabs the pile of papers.

"Thanks," He turns his attention to us. His stunning green eyes glittering in the pale light. "These are your exercise schedules, so you won't be out of shape when it is time to get into the arena." His voice falters as he looks at me, he quickly looks back at River handing him his sheet. "For you River, you are tall and lean like myself. You will be a fighter, you will fight with your hands. With time, and… steroids"He says under his breath "you can gain muscles like me too, so we are going to make you pretty much like me. I mean let's face it, who doesn't want to be like me?" He turns to me, his voice much softer "As for you, you are small, and graceful. So you will be relying on your looks, and I assume you have the capablibites for outwitting people." He says, "You seem like the type."

"No," I say. "I am not graceful, I am clumsy. I cannot outwit people never have, never will." I keep my eyes fixed on his magnificent green eyes, they were so stunning. Her heart skipped a beat when he smiled at her.

"I think we can fix the clumsy, it looks like your shoes are too big."He points down the shoes I have on. Black flats, which sagged around my feet. "A little too much wiggle room in there eh?"

"As for your skill in the arena we can figure out what your good at during training. As for now, you two must be exhausted, go to sleep, we will arrive at the capital in a day or so." He says. I get up and follow the blue haired woman to the sleeping quarters. Turns out her name were Eta Hayes, our escort to the Hunger Games. This clearly was her first year doing this because she already she was dabbing make up to cover up the dark spots under her eyes. I close the door to my room. Inside was a queen sized bed, with soft royal red linens. To the right of the door stood a large closet filled with all sorts of clothing that was quite common in district 4. It had the capital extravagant clothes, to just plain clothes. I pick out a soft blue shirt and pants that match it, and change into them then crash onto the bed letting sleep overcome me.

"Wake up," A soothing voice whispers in my ear. "Come get something to eat." I roll over, not wanting to wake up. Knowing fully that if I wake up I will have to face my inevitable death, something I wish was not true. Someone brushes a piece of hair out of my face, the same way my mother does.

"Mom?"I ask, not wanting to open my eyes.

"No, it's just me. Sorry honey." the voice chuckles. I open my eyes to see Finnick standing over me, sipping coffee from a mug, drips of coffee hug to his stubble.

"What are you doing here?" I ask, as I sit up feeling the weight of the lack of sleep on my shoulders.

"I'm here to wake you up. Come on, River has been up for the last hour we need to get started. The dining car is out to the right and through three cars. We'll meet you there in five minutes alright?" He says quickly then hastily makes his way out of my room. I lie back down on the bed, staring at the ceiling trying to ignore the thoughts that spun in my head like an intricate spider web. Each specific idea slowly creeping its way onto the small thread, slowly more thoughts started coming, faster and faster. I sit up, and run into the bathroom and splash water on my face. I dipped my face underneath the faucet trying to get the thoughts of everything, the spiders, the death, the arena, the horror that was just a week away. I slip into my pale yellow dress from yesterday and brush my hair and teeth then make my way out.

Two cars to the right, he was exactly right of course. River, Eta, Finnick, and Mags sat at the table picking through a variety of breakfast choices. I sit down next to River scanning over my choices of food.

"Buttered toast with a tad bit of cinnamon sprinkled on top of it, heard it was your favorite." Finnick says handing me the plate.

"And who told you that?" I ask, as I picked up the bread and bite into it. Finnick nods over to River. I look suspiciously at him, questioning him with my eyes.

"Your brother, remember when I ate over that one time when your brother and I were working on that project? You guys splurged on cinnamon, and we made it. Man that was amazing." He chuckles to himself softly. I remember, that was a year ago. Right before Aster's brother went into the arena. Right before everything went downhill.

"It was." I smile politely back. Hiding the agony that Aster and I faced. I had been close with Aster and John. Her only other best friend, the three of us were the best of friends, until the wretched girl practically beheaded him. Even now I still consider him a best friend, someone who will always hold strong place in my heart. I set the bread down, my appetite suddenly lost, along with my future.

"Touched a touchy subject already?" Eta chuckled from the other side of the wooden table.

"I'm sorry; my mind tends to wander a lot…" I trail off "So what's the plan for the day?" I ask, attempting to change the subject. To get it off of John's death, off of our death.

"In about two hours we will get into the capital. Then we will head to the hotel where you will be staying. Then we have one on one mentor training. You meet your stylists, and then you will head off to bed." Finnick lists. I nod, taking in all what today will bring. I gaze out to in the window. Prairies, and sand, that's all that was be able to be seen. In the distance a far plateau was visible stretching on for miles. If only I could break through the window and hike my way back to home, so if I would die I would be able to on my own terms not on the Capital's terms.

"Sounds like a plan, so what are we doing for the next two hours?" pipes up River, in an odd tone of enthusiasm.

"You need to take a shower," Finnick points to me, and then turns his attention to River "You need to find better clothes. You can't expect to make your first impression in the capital like that." River looks down at his clothes, soft gray pants that hung around his legs lazily. A bright green shirt a few sizes to big draped across his body. His hair disheveled, as if he rolled out of bed and into the dining car, which is most likely what he did. I get up and hurry out of the dining car to my quarters. I quickly take a shower, ignoring the variety of smells I can use, just quickly jumping in and jumping out. I put my yellow dress on for the third time in the last 24 hours, and make my way back to the dining car. I'm the first one back, which was surprising since I did take a shower. Finnick was sitting in a lounge chair that was on the other end of the dining car past the table. Mags and Eta were gone too, leaving Finnick and I alone.

"I showered." I say as I take a seat across from him. He was handsome, muscular, but not bulging muscles. His green eyes were trained in his drink, his shiny brown hair covered his eyes slightly.

"Good," He says, his voice quiet. "Mags is with River. They are training together."

"So you're training me?" I ask stupidly. Finnick looks up at me, chuckling softly. His green eyes meeting mine giving me a miniature heart attack. He nods, and then sets his glass down on the table. He sighed as he rubbed his hands together. "You're making me nervous. What's wrong?" I say, my voice suddenly quiet.

"Nothing, I'm just thinking about where we should start. Have you read over my note cards yet?" He questions. I shake my head in embarrassment, last night I just crashed without even bothering to take a shower.

"Well look over those at night. It will help you, and as for now you may want to take notes. As much as people may think weapons will make you survive. So does your personality, how you handle things, and being able to accustom to what is around you." He hands me a pencil and a notepad, much nicer than the ones we are given at school. Its binding was leather with gold flecks that was sprinkled on the binding at the top of the paper. The papers a nice thin, but not too thin like the kind we are given at four. I scribble down what he said as fast as I could, as not to keep him waiting.

In the next hour we cover practically everything around how I should present myself. He keeps pressing that I should pull off the smart out witty type. Although I have never been one to be that kind of person to be witty and I admit I am not that smart.

Finally the train pulls into the Capital, big lavish buildings brushed the skies. Glistening water surrounded the mighty city, but what was more astonishing was the quietness in the city. I watched as the city grew nearer, as it grew nearer I realized that the streets were flooded with people in outrageous costumes.

"Welcome," Finnick whispers hoarsely in my ear, his body pressed up against my back. A shiver ran through my spine. His voice cracks as he says "May the odds.."

"Be ever in my favor," I finish.


End file.
